Method of packing and loading flour



Jan. 15 1924.

l 1,480,859 H. O'B. HARDING v METHOD oF PACKING AND LOADING FLOUR vFiled Dec. 26. 1918 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 `lan. 15 1924.

H. OB. HARDING METHOD OF PACKING AND LOADING FLOUR Filed Dec. 2e, 1918 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 `iaitented dan. l5, 1924.

HENRY ons. HAR-DING, on iviI`N1vna-isiofirst;iriNNEso'ra, 'assreivonrojvfasiuin CROSBY COMPANY, oFMINNEAPoLIs, MINNESOTA, A CORPORATIN.

vMETHOD or PACKING AND `LOADING FFLCUR.

Application med December 2e, 191s. sefiai'No.' 268,374.

To all ywhom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, HENRY OB. HARDING, a Citizen of the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented 'certain new and useful Improvements 'in Methods of Packing and Loading Flour, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the method of packing and 'loading flour and has for its object to provide means whereby the facilities of the packing plant lmay be kept continously in operation at maximum capacity and the flour packed may be loaded into cars intermittently but nevertheless in the aggregate as rapidly as the Hour is packed. To this end it is an object of my invention to operate a packing room having a multiplicity of packers and a considerable amount of storage space so that all packers are continuously operating to pack flour up to the maximum or desired capacity, and the packed sacks may, as the conditions of cars available require, either be delivered from the pac-kers `directly to the car or from the packersto the storage space, or from)y the storage space directly to the cars, or flour may be delivered vsimultaneously from the packers and from the storage space to the cars. In this mannerthe packers will be continuously operated at a ixedrate, while the loading into cars will take place intermittently as cars are available, both as regards time of loading and the rate of 'loading, which may be either less or much greater than the rate at which the flour is packed. In carrying out my invention I provide systems of conveyors arranged in proximity to the packers, and also in proximity to the storage space, said conveyors ultimately leading to conveyor mechanism for delivering the sacks into the cars. And I provide elevator devices or boosters for lifting sacks up to and delivering upon the conveyors, some of said boosters being fixed and others, particularly those used in connection with stored Hour, being portable.

The full objects and advantages of my invention will appear in connection with the detailed description thereof and the inventive features are particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, which illustra-te the manner in whichV my method mayv be' carried out,-

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a packing'floor showing certain instrumentalities forcarrying out the steps of my process.v

Figs. 2 and?) are sectional views at right angles to each other' of stationary'booster or lifting' mechanism. y

Fig. 4 is a transverse 'elevation view of the storage room showing a side elevation of the portable boosters. l

Referring to the drawings, C designates a packing room of a {lourfmill in which are a number of packers indicatedby the character 9 for packing'fiour into sacks, the packers being arranged in a row. Adjacent the packers are weighing'scales 11 for weighing the sacks as they'are taken from the packers. Parallel with the row of packers are a number of ltraveling belts 12 Vinalinement with each other for carrying illedsacks'i'inder sewing machines or other devices :10 'for closing the tops of the filled sacks. The sacks when removed `from 'the scales are placed in upright position upon-the belts 12 which convey them under'the closing devices 10, and after the sacks havebeen closed,they pass on to the delivery 'endsof the'belt's, where they are tipped over 'in' the direction in which they are being conveyed 'upon'short endless belts 14 traveling *inthe' direction indicated by the arrow Z) at right angles to the direction oftravel of lthe belts 12 indicated by the arrow a. rIlhe 'belts' 14 are located at a somewhat lower level than the belts 12 andV the belts 14- pass around end rollers 16 and 18, the upper stretch Vof the belts being supported'by idlers 20. A'driving pulley 17 is secured to the shaft of one of the end rollers. Adjacent the delivery ends of the belts 14 are combs 22 attached to the frames 24, and cooperating with the belts 14 are endless elevating belts 26 passing over upper rollers 28 and lower rollers 30, these rollers being mounted in the side members 32 and 34. A driving pulley 29 is secured to the shaft of the upper roller. A Attached to the belts 26 at regular intervals f are sack-lifting members 36 consisting of fingers adapted to pass between the teeth of the comb 22. The elevating belts deliver the sacks to belts 41, 43 running below the ceiling of the room so that the belts are out of the Way and do not obstruct the floor space. As shown, one elevating device or booster may serve either two or three packers and the belts 41,43 deliver the sacks upon a traveling belt 44 which has its delivery end lapped by the receiving end ot a belt 46 which leads through the Wall of the room and discharges upon a belt 48 running at right angles to the belt 46. Adjacent the belt 44 is a belt 50 which laps a belt 5l that leads directly through the Wall of the room and discharges upon a belt 52 in alinement with the belt 48 but traveling in the opposite direction. The belts 48 and 52 run parallel to a track 54 upon which cars 56, when available, are positioned. Deflectors 58 maybe placed in any suitable position across the belts 48 and 52 to deliect the sacks into position for loading into the cars. A deliector 60 is located at the deliveryT end of the belt. 44, this detiector being movable into position to deflect sacks from the belt 44 to either the belt 46 or 51, as desired. A belt 62 coming from another room may be arranged to deliver sacks upon the belts 44 and 50 or upon a belt 64 delivering upon a belt 66 which leads through the Wall of the room and delivers upon the belt 52. Then cars are not available, the closed sacks after passing the sewing machines 10 are removed by truckers and stored in the space X of the. packing room, Where these sacks remain until cars become available. "When this condition occurs, the stored sacks are placed upon portable elevating devices or boosters 68 and 69 which deliver them to the traveling belts located toward the upper part orn the room and constituting the same carrier system previously referred to, by means ot which the sacks are carried to the cars. The boosters 68 are provided with wheels at their upper and lower ends, those at the upper end being for engagement With a rail 70 adjacent and parallel to the belts 5() or 66, and those at the lower end being for engagement With the floor. Boosters 69 are supported upon a Wheeled truck 73.

The advantages of my method will be readily understood from the foregoing description. VhenE cars are available, they are moved into proper position on the track adjacent the mill and the closed sacks are delivered directly to the carrier system, which conveys them into position for loading into the cars. When this procedure is follovved it is unnecessary to provide truckers for removing the closed sacks and it is not necessary to utilize space in the packing room for storing purposes. However, when there is a temporary shortage ot cars, the packers may still continue in operation and the closed sacks are removed by truckers Who store them in space provided for this purpose. As soon as cars become available, the stored sacks are taken from the storage space and delivered directly to the same cai rier system previously referred to, which conveys them to the cars. It is obvious that the employement of my method reduces manual handling of lthe sacks to a minimum and requires less space than is the case when all of the sacks which arebeing filled and closed are removed by truckers. It is further apparent that the packers will be operating at full capacity all of the time and sacks may be simultaneously delivered to the cars from the packers and from the storage space over the same carrier system.

I claim:

The method of packing and loading liour which consists in continuously packing the flour into sacks, closing the filled sacks While conveying them in upright position, and then when sufficient cars are available delivering all of the closed sacks directly to a carrier system for conveying the sacks to the cars, and When sufficient cars' are not available handling a portion of the sacks coming from the packers in the manner just stated and storing the remainder of said sacks, and subsequently When suliicient cars are available delivering the stored sacks and the Sacks as they are filled and closed v In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature.

HENRY (re. nai-imm., 

